Charges against Bethlehem man accused in Facebook serial rape case head to county court

She and four other teens testify against Bethlehem man charged in Facebook rape case.

A hearing is underway for David Martinez, who is charged in five separate… (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, THE…)

April 16, 2013|By Pamela Lehman and Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call

Their accounts were all similar, and all horrible.

One by one in court Monday, five teenagers confronted the Bethlehem man described by authorities as a serial rapist who used Facebook to prey on his victims.

Four of the teens said David Martinez forced himself on them as they tried to fight him off and pleaded for him to stop; a fifth said Martinez gave up after she screamed.

The youngest was 14. Two were pregnant at the time. One said Martinez offered to buy her the morning-after pill after the assault.

"I was telling him stop, this isn't supposed to happen," one teen said at a preliminary hearing held at the Northampton County Courthouse in Easton. "I kept repeating it, repeating it."

The girl, who was 17 and five months pregnant, said that during the attack on her, Martinez's face seemed to transform.

"It just looked like something had come over him," she testified. "It didn't look like it was him."

After hearing all five teens' testimony, District Judge Roy Manwaring found enough evidence exists for Martinez, 20, to face trial on all charges against him, including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault.

The teens were all slight in stature, and largely matter of fact in their answers — their voices quiet and flat as they described advances by Martinez that began with kissing and ended with him pulling at their pants and pinning them down.

"I had no control after that. He got on top of me. … I told him to stop and he wouldn't," said a 17-year-old who testified that she was raped at Martinez's Maple Street home in September.

On the witness stand, she and several other of the teens kept their eyes averted from the defense table where Martinez sat with his attorney. As the teens got into the most graphic details of what happened, family members in the audience quietly gasped and shook their heads.

Just one of the teens — the 14-year-old — openly struggled with emotion, beginning to cry as she related telling Martinez to stop and trying to push him off of her.

Authorities said the assaults spanned from 2011 to January. Initially, Martinez was charged with two rapes, but police added three more cases after District Attorney John Morganelli in February publicly asked other potential victims to come forward.

Police said Martinez would meet teens online, exchange phone numbers with them, and eventually arrange face-to-face encounters, when he would attack them. According to court records, Martinez told detectives that he had "met and had plenty of females on Facebook," and he called himself a sex addict.

In three instances, the teens said Martinez assaulted them at his home. Two said they were attacked in his vehicle, one after he parked in Freemansburg and another at the Lookout above Lehigh University in south Bethlehem.

All five said they only wanted to "hang out," watch movies or talk with Martinez. Instead, they said, Martinez began kissing them and grabbing and pulling at their clothing. Though he might pause as they backed away or protested, he became increasingly aggressive during the encounters, they said.

Three of the teens testified that Martinez stopped raping them after they began to cry. One, 18 and seven months pregnant at the time, said Martinez tried to remove her pants but stopped when she screamed.

The 17-year-old who testified to an assault in September said Martinez completed the sex act, then sent her a text message about it afterward.

"He said he was going to get me the [morning-]after pill, so I wouldn't get pregnant," she said.

The pregnant teens said they worried they would lose their babies as they struggled with Martinez. Both later successfully gave birth, according to their testimony.

"I was trying to protect my belly and my baby," said the teen who was seven months pregnant.

During the hearing, Martinez whispered on occasion to his attorney but wore a blank expression. As he was escorted by deputy sheriffs from the courtroom, he nodded to several rows of family and friends. They declined to comment afterward.

Defense lawyer Matthew Potts told Manwaring that he did not contest that prosecutors had enough evidence to send the case to county court. Afterward, Potts said it is "too soon" to tell how he will handle his client's defense.

Martinez remains in Northampton County Prison under $825,000 bail.

Bethlehem police Lt. Mark DiLuzio said Monday that police continue to believe Martinez assaulted others beyond the five who testified.